An Analysis of Firm Complexity and Tax Aggressiveness of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria and South Africa

Abstract

The study examined the influence of firm complexity on tax aggressiveness of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria and South Africa. The study employed the longitudinal research design in a cross-country comparative analysis approach. The sample size consists of an equal sample of the 13 listed deposit money banks quoted on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and 13 listed deposit money banks quoted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa. Secondary data was used for the study as extracted from the annual reports and financial statements of the selected banks for a nine-year period of 2012-2020. The panel data were analyzed using a descriptive statistic, correlation and panel data regression technique which was dually estimated to capture the samples of both countries. The outcome of the Nigerian model showed that firm complexity asserted significant negative impacts on tax aggressiveness in Nigeria, and in model ii, it showed that firm complexity has an insignificant negative impact on tax aggressiveness in South Africa. The study recommends, among others, that the notion that highly diversified banks engaged in less tax aggression was upheld in the Nigerian sample. Since most diversified Nigerian companies had subsidiaries and cross-border affiliations with South Africa, there is a need for both governments to simplify the tax laws and focus more on creating a tax culture in order to foster voluntary compliance among multinationals.